Batting

The No. 1 seed University of Mount Olive advances to the Championship as they took a 6-4 game from King University Saturday night in Burlington, N.C. Zak Orrison went 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead the pack for the Trojans over the Tornado.

King had the big fly help them in the second. J.D. Wallace singled up the middle with one away to give the Tornado a runner. After a fly out Justin Trent singled off of Derek Justice for a single. Garrett Cook had the big hit as he cleared the left field wall for a three run home run.

Mount Olive (39-11) fought back in the bottom half. After a strikeout Justin Manning came up and crushed a ball over the right field scoreboard. Cody Britt one out later singled back through the middle of the infield to give Mount Olive another potential run. DeAndre Allen was hit by a pitch and moved Britt to second.

Orrison singled into right to bring home the second run for the Trojans as Britt came home and Allen took third. Orrison was able to also take second on the throw to third, however Mount Olive was not able to plate anymore runs as the third out was recorded by the strikeout.

Orrison talked about his night at the plate after the game: "I got off to a slow start in the tournament so when I got that first hit it loosened me up and when I squared a ball up it took the weight off my shoulders".

The Trojans came back clutch with two outs in the fourth. Allen walked with one away to start the offense. Orrison singled into center and Allen took second. Jay Gonzalez reached on a fielder's choice to put out Orrison at second and Allen moved to third. Luke Barry singled through the right side to plate Allen; Barry advanced to second and Gonzalez to third on the throw home.

"With a lefty up like that you've seen him for three at bats so I knew he was coming inside, so I thought I'd sit back a little bit and get off the plate and stay inside and drive the ball and it's awesome to come through for your team" said Barry about his at bat with two away.

Bradon Reitano reached on a fielding error by the first baseman that allowed Barry and Gonzalez to score. Rob Shipman singled just to the right side of third base to beat the shift from King and Manning drew a walk to load the bases. The third walk of the inning was surrendered to Chase Edwards as he picked up the RBI with Reitano coming in and Mount Olive took the lead for the first time heading into the fifth 6-3.

Derek Justice shut down the Tornado (23-28-1) until they were able to scratch across a run in the eighth. Tyler Gaby reached on a fielding error and was advanced to second on a groundout. Tyler Raymond singled through the right side to plate the fourth and final run of the game for King.

Justice (9-1) earned the win and his sixth complete game of the season. Justice allowed three runs in the second and then kept King off the board for five innings until he surrendered one more run. The four runs came off seven hits and he also added six punch outs.

Reiss Stanley (3-5) got hit with the loss for King. He gave up six runs off nine hits and had nine strikeouts in his eight innings of work.

Orrison spoke on Mount Olive's state of mind going into the championship tomorrow; "We are good and we are ready. We have to lose two tomorrow so we feel good; we're all hitting our stride so we feel good".

Barry also gave his comments on how the team feels: "I think we're ready; we're fired up. It hurt when we went 2-0 then two and out last year but it's a different story this year. We have a bunch of grinders on our team and to come out and get three wins like that, it's a big win to come out and have some leeway. The team is all ready to go and we're fired up".

The win is the Mount Olive's 22nd straight win and third of the tournament. The Trojans advance to the Championship game tomorrow at 3 p.m. against the winner of the King and Erskine/Barton game that takes place at 12 p.m.